By Marc Kovac
DCB
23/01/2007
Ohio State University's Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center will receive about $5.5 million in state funding to construct a new feed mill at its Wooster campus.
The state controlling board released the funding Monday afternoon.
North Bay Construction of Westlake will coordinate design and construction of the research feed manufacturing plant, which will be located on Selby Road.
Associate Director David Benfield, who attended Monday's meeting in Columbus, said the mill will be constructed near poultry buildings and composting facilities on the OARDC campus. It will be completed in late 2008 or early 2009.
The mill will feature "processing equipment, mixers, grain and ingredient storage, mixed feed storage, future grain drying system, office, worker support areas and related equipment," according to state documents.
Officials are considering using the existing mill for storage, Benfield said.
The Controlling Board approved the funding without comment, though there was a lighter moment at the start of the meeting when President J. Pari Sabety corrected a typo on the agenda that added three zeroes to the price tag.
The resulting billion-dollar cost would have made the building "the most expensive feed mill in world history," she joked.
